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Lawmakers Call On Michigan Governor And EPA Head To Resign; Blame Game Intensifies On Flint Water Crisis; EPA Records Show Lead In Water In Other Cities; (12) Yale Upsets (5) Baylor, 79-75; Little Rock Upsets Purdue In Double OT; CNN Goes Inside Rebel-Held Syria. Aired 6:30-7a ET

Aired March 18, 2016 - 06:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[06:30:43] MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: Lawmakers on Capitol Hill calling on Michigan's governor and the EPA chief to resign at a heated congressional hearing over the Flint water crisis. Both officials in the line of fire blaming each other for not doing enough. CNN's Sara Ganim was there.

(BEGIND VIDEO CLIP)

SARA GANIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Governor Rick Snyder desperately trying to hang on to his job faced an angry congressional committee, especially Democrats, demanding answers for why he was so slow to react to Flint's water crisis.

GOV. RICK SNYDER (R), MICHIGAN: I kick myself every single day about what I could have done to do more.

REP. MATT CARTWRIGHT (D), PENNSYLVANIA: Plausible deniability only works when it's plausible, and I have had about enough of your false contrition and your phony apologies.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You need to resign.

GANIM: It wasn't just Governor Snyder who faced blame. Republicans mostly focused their sights on President Obama's EPA administrator, Gina McCarthy.

REP. JASON CHAFFETZ (R), UTAH: Wow. You just don't get it. You still don't get it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Not only am I asking you to be fired. If you're not going to resign, you should be impeached.

GANIM: Snyder and McCarthy faced off in the contentious hearing, often bickering over who is more to blame.

SNYDER: Why didn't administrator McCarthy just get on the phone and call me? This is not a technical compliance, again. This is that culture that got us in this mess to start with. Where is common sense?

GINA MCCARTHY, ADMINISTRATOR, EPA: I will take responsibility for not pushing hard enough, but I will not take responsibility for causing this problem. It was not EPA at the helm when this happened.

GANIM: McCarthy deflected several questions about whether the EPA did anything wrong.

REP. BUDDY CARTER (R), GEORGIA: Would common sense not have told you, hey, stop drinking the water?

MCCARTHY: Not at that point in time.

CARTER: Not at that point in time? At what point in time?

GANIM: As the questions continued, Flint residents protested in the hallways like they have been for months. E-mails show Governor Snyder's top staff members knew of problems for months before action was taken and the public was warned. Some members of the committee weren't buying Snyder's claims that he wasn't looped in.

REP. ELIJAH CUMMINGS (D), MARYLAND: There's no doubt in my mind that if a corporate CEO did what Governor Snyder's administration has done, they would be hauled up on criminal charges.

GANIM: Sara Ganim, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: And stick around because we have much more on the crisis in Flint. Up next, we'll speak to the pediatrician who first sounded the alarm about the water contamination.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:37:09] CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Did you hear about the hearing on Capitol Hill about what was going on in Flint? All the congress members, they're all angry now, now that it's over. Now that it's just time to cast blame. Certainly when it's not on them. Although, the federal government is involved, the EPA got a tongue lashing yesterday, but really, it was about the Michigan governor. Let's talk to somebody who has been deep inside the problem and sounding the alarm in Michigan from the beginning. Dr. Mona Hanna- Attisha. She is the director of the pediatric residency program at Hurley's Children's Hospital in Flint. She is the doctor who started to see these patterns and numbers and levels and did research and saw that the lead level had been rising to dangerous levels and sounded the alarm. The question is, who listened and when? Doc, always a pleasure to see you on the show. I wish it were for a different reason than looking at you as someone who saw this problem before others wanted to. Not did, but wanted to. What you're hearing in the hearings from the Michigan governor, does that square with your reckoning of how it worked when you started to tell state officials about what you were seeing?

DOCTOR MONA HANNA-ATTISHA, DIRECTOR OF PEDIATRIC RESIDENCY PROGRAM, HURLEY'S CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL: Yes, so, not exactly. So when I first shared our concerns, we were attacked just like the citizens were attacked. Just like the water experts were attacked. We were told we were wrong, that we were causing near hysteria, and that the state's numbers didn't really jive with our numbers. So it took a good week and a half, two weeks for them to turn around and say, oh, actually, we have a problem. But that's yesterday. And the hearing that we heard yesterday was finger pointing. It brings us nothing to where we need to go in terms of healing our city and healing our children.

CUOMO: Well you've got to remember, Doc, that's the easy part for the politicians, is to look at somebody other than themselves and say, you screwed up and now I want to look like I care. But you know what we see, we see your real intentions in your actions going forward. As of today, are you getting what you need in Flint is what you need to see happening?

HANNA-ATTISHA: It's beginning. It is beginning at the state level and it's beginning at the federal level. But we have not seen the same sense of urgency for other federal disasters, for hurricanes, for floods, for oil spills. We have not seen the same response. There is a bill tied up in the federal government. We need those legislators who were so angry yesterday to pass this Flint Aid bill and we need more money from the state side. When you think about lead and you think about the long term and multi-generational impact this could cause, we need to invest today so that we do not see the consequences of lead tomorrow. These are our children. This is not a third world developing country that contaminated their water supply. This is America. This is our great nation and we need to give them all the resources that we can right now.

[06:40:01] CUOMO: Now I've been hearing from other clinician in your area saying, by the way, we're still seeing kids. Why are you making it seem like the lead problem stopped? It's not just the long term effects. I'm seeing current effects right now. Are you still seeing levels elevated?

HANNA-ATTISHA: Yes. We still have kids with elevated lead levels and we still have lots of homes with elevated water lead levels. Yesterday, I got a phone call from a mom who was pregnant. Her water lead level was over 1,000 parts per billion and 15 is action level from the EPA. So our water system has not healed. Our water is still not safe to drink.

CUOMO: Now something else that we're doing here, maybe this will help your core concern of the urgency to address. Flint should be enough. You're right, full stop. But sometimes, when you get bigger numbers, you get bigger urgency and action as more people wind up falling under the umbrella of suspicion for inaction. I want to put up a map that shows other states where there are exceeded lead limits and they're big states. New York has a situation in Hoosick Falls right now. I know that all too well. My brother's the governor in New York. He had to rush up there. They have lead. But big states, California, Texas, Pennsylvania, New Jersey. What do you know? What have you been hearing from your fellows and your colleagues around the country?

HANNA-ATTISHA: We really thought lead was a problem of yesterday. We thought we took care of it. We got lead out of paint, we got lead out of gasoline, but lead is like a gift that keeps on giving. It's really hard to get rid of. So it's not a problem of yesterday. It's a problem of today and it's going to be a problem of tomorrow if we don't do something called primary prevention where we eliminate the sources of lead. We need to invest in more of these programs that eliminate that source, that get rid of lead from the plumbing and from paint and from dust and from soil because now we learned so much more about lead and we have learned that there is no safe level of lead. There is not any level that doesn't cause deleterious harm. It doesn't mean all children are going to be impacted, but it means that we now have the science to guide us in policy decisions to get rid of these lead exposures. It's often been said that pediatricians are the greatest witnesses to failed social policies. With lead, it's seen, and with everything that's happened in Flint, our children are the victims of these things.

CUOMO: Doctor, we'll be back to you on this. And as you know, as I always say, when you hear new information or information that's troubling you about where this is going, you come to us and we'll get right on it. Thank you very much.

HANNA-ATTISHA: Thank you. Thanks for having me.

CUOMO: Alisyn --

CAMEROTA: Chris, this is a story I know you're watching carefully. It took more than half a century for the Yale Bulldogs to make it back to the big dance. Details of their stunning upset in our "Bleacher Report", next.

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[06:46:48] CUOMO: One day in and this is already the best NCAA men's basketball tournament in decades. Why even you should know the Yale Bulldogs pulling off what everyone should have expected against Baylor, a four point runaway victory. Andy Scholes has more in this morning's "Bleacher Report". Make your witness.

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Yes, Chris, I'm glad you're happy about Yale. They ruined my bracket. I had Baylor in the sweet 16. There's just something about those 12 seeds, right? They end up winning games every year, and yesterday, the first day of the tournament, two 12 seeds won, one of them being your Yale Bulldogs, Chris. And they were back for the first time in 54 years. They made the most of it. Makai Mason, a career-high, 31 points for the Bulldogs in this one. He had Baylor frustrated the whole game and check this out, two Baylor players actually getting into it during a timeout in the second half. Now under two and a half to go, Justin Sears, the reverse lay in right here. That put Yale up by six. Baylor had one last chance but they fumbled the ball away in the closing seconds as Yale pulled off the upset, 79 to 75. Now the other 12 seed upset of the day came from Little Rock. They made a big comeback against Purdue in the final three minutes. Here in the closing seconds, Josh Hagins did an amazing fade away three. That tied the game with four seconds left. This game actually went to double overtime. And Little Rock would hold on to win 85 to 83 to get their first tournament win in 30 years.

Now in the NBA, the Spurs beat the Blazers, 118 to 110, to improve to 34-0 at home this season. Now that winning streak's going to face its biggest test tomorrow night as the Spurs will host the Warriors. Golden State, of course, is 61-6 right now, still going for the '95-'96 Bulls all time record of 72-10. And guys, of course, the tournament continues today on our sister networks, TNT, TBS, and truTV. I was looking at my bracket this morning like everyone else, and Yale, thank you, ruined it for me. I had Baylor in the sweet 16, so I'm already like kaput. But Chris, I was wondering, I was looking at the standings, where's your bracket?

PEREIRA: Yes, how's your bracket?

CUOMO: This is the year I decided, you know what, I'm not doing the bracket. I never know what the heck I'm talking about and all kinds of dodos wind up do well as a result of just picking random things. And this would have been the year I would have picked Yale, because it's my team, so I would have had that one.

SCHOLES: Yale, way to be back in the tournament, and this is the year you don't do a bracket.

CAMEROTA: Woulda', coulda', shoulda'.

CUOMO: I feel like Charlie Brown.

CAMEROTA: You're Lucy.

CUOMO: Yes, you're Lucy. You're more Peppermint Patty.

CAMEROTA: Delicious.

CUOMO: No, not the food.

[06:49:38] CAMEROTA: Up next, we have a very serious story to tell you about. We hope you'll stay tuned for this because it's an exclusive. We're taking you inside rebel-held Syria. Thousands of civilians there are desperate for help. You hear about these stories but you never see it. We'll show you how they are trying to get aid in this CNN exclusive. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PEREIRA: The devastation left by Russian and Syrian regime fighters on civilian infrastructure in Syria, it could take generations to rebuild. Our senior international correspondent, Clarissa Ward, went into rebel-held Syrian territory, where virtually no western journalist has gone for a year, and she joins us now with more of her exclusive reporting. And we need to warn you, some of the images you are about to show us are really graphic.

CLARISSA WARD, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, and like most of these stories, this is the fourth and final installment in our "Undercover In Syria" series. And this is really looking at the aide crisis and we followed a British aide worker as he tried to the deliver an ambulance to the front line of Aleppo and you'll see what happened. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WARD: It's a Tuesday in Syria. A British aid worker, Tauqir Sharif, is making the dangerous drive to Aleppo.

TAUQIR SHARIF: It's really important we drive with the windows open because any kind of explosions that land close to us, last thing you want is shrapnel and glass, and so on and so forth, landing in our face.

WARD: He is traveling to the devastated city to deliver an ambulance. But it isn't long before he is diverted. Four air strikes have hit. Sharif runs into the wreckage to see what's needed.

SHARIF: This is a house, right. Look, it's all houses.

[06:54:58] WARD: Remarkably, no one has been injured on or killed. But the sign of another jet means it's time to leave.

SHARIF: The plane is in the sky, you can hear it. We're seeing a tactic that it uses, when ambulances turn up, they'll hit the same flat again, so we're just going to try to get to a safer place.

WARD: Sharif is one of just a handful of western aide workers living in Syria.

SHARIF: Most of the big aide organizations, they don't want to go into the line of fire, in a sense. This is something that we have to do. This is something that is a human response. If we don't do it, who will?

WARD: In the relative safety of an olive grove near the Turkish border, he told us that religious conviction played a big part in his decision to come here three years ago.

SHARIF: We need to look at, what do the people really want? And if the people are Muslims, this is not me saying it, if the people are Muslims they want some for of Islamic governance, then it's important that we help them to establish that.

WARD: Is that what they want?

SHARIF: In my opinion, that's what I believe. You can go ask the people, what do you want, and I don't think the people will settle for anything less, especially after all of this bloodshed. The right to self-determination.

WARD: For many of the 6.5 million displaced people in Syria, there are perhaps more immediate concerns. Most live in sprawling tent cities along the border. Conditions in the camps are brutal. There is a lack of food and clean water. They become more crowded every day.

SHARIF: We have just recently done a survey of this camp. Just this camp here alone, which is conglomeration of about 40 camps, is around 80,000 people.

WARD: 80,000 people.

SHARIF: And this is just one on this border. There is another one not too far from here, another maybe 65,000, 70,000 people.

WARD: Sharif's favorite project is this smaller camp that houses roughly 100 widows and their children. Syria is now a country full of widows and orphans, some still too young to understand what has happened to their country. Others who have seen too much. All of them dependent on the mercy of others.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PEREIRA: So jarring to see the color of the playground equipment there with these children who have been left behind, and widowed mothers and the children they're trying to care for. What kind of future?

WARD: We're really talking about a lost generation here. You have more than 2.5 million children inside Syria now who don't attend school. And another statistic that really blew my mind, one in three children in Syria has been born in the last five years. That means, Michaela, they have never known anything other than death, destruction, and conflict. So of course, when you're looking towards the future --

PEREIRA: You feel the repercussions of that for generations to come?

WARD: Exactly. What are the ramifications?

PEREIRA: We've seen it before. We have seen it in other wars. Children of those wars, it shakes them for the rest of their lives. I want to ask you more about that aid worker. I found him a fascinating character, obviously you did too. Complicated?

WARD: Well, you realize there's this gray area. Because on the one hand, this is an incredibly brave man. He seems to have a very good heart. He's doing very important work. And on the other hand, he also very clearly wants to help the people in Syria implement very strict Islamic law. And you're seeing this more and more in these parts of rebel-held Syria. The people who are strong enough and brave enough to go and risk their lives to live among these people do also have some pretty intense religious beliefs. And obviously, in the future, that will also have ramifications. So it's a really interesting, and I would call it a gray area, actually.

PEREIRA: That's actually very interesting, because I know that we tend to see things, maybe from our North American or western perspective, a little more black and white, right? But you probably are encountering more and more of this gray area.

WARD: We definitely are. And I would say that just because somebody wants to live under Islam or implement Islamic law, it doesn't mean they support terrorism. It doesn't mean they support the killing of innocent -- this is a very complex and nuanced issue.

PEREIRA: It sure is. We have just been so grateful for your reporting. Thank you for it. Keep it up. Keep up the great work, Clarissa.

WARD: Thank you.

PEREIRA: All right. We're following a lot of news. Is it too late for Republicans to stop Donald Trump? Let's get to it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. MARCO RUBIO (R-FL), FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: A Trump nomination would fracture the party.

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I think we'll win. If we didn't, you'd have riots.

REP. PAUL RYAN (R-WI), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: To even address or hint to violence is unacceptable.

TRUMP: I'm representing many, many millions of people.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Could be a disaster for our party.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: If we had more women in charge, things would work better.

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I will build on the progress we've made but take it further.

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (D-VT), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We think we've got a path toward victory.

OBAMA: So here's the truth. Look it up. America's pretty darn great right now.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Merrick Garland is a fine man.

UNIDENTIED FEMALE: What we're seeing is a disrespect for the constitution.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's just simply too much at stake.

OBAMA: They didn't say, we're going to decide that you're in charge for three years and then in the last year you'll take a break --